喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture time working quietly on something and leaving marks as it goes: grey hair, a slower morning, a knocking pipe, a worn floorboard. Aging can be thought of as that work of time, caught while it is still happening rather than after it is done. The noun names the work itself. The adjective points at whatever time is busy with right now — a singer, a population, a bridge. And workshops borrow the word for marks they put on by hand, so a brand-new table can carry the same signs without ever having lived the years.

可以想成時間安靜地在一樣東西上工作，一邊做一邊留下痕跡：白頭髮、變慢的早晨、半夜會敲的水管、磨平的地板。aging …更多收起可以想成時間安靜地在一樣東西上工作，一邊做一邊留下痕跡：白頭髮、變慢的早晨、半夜會敲的水管、磨平的地板。aging 可以想成時間的這份工作，而且是「還在做」的時候被看見，不是做完以後。名詞說的是這份工作本身。形容詞指的是時間現在正在忙的那個對象，可能是歌手、人口，也可能是一座橋。工坊則把這個詞借去用，把那些痕跡用手做出來，所以全新的桌子也能帶著同樣的記號，卻沒真的活過那些年。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary analyses the word on the surface as age + -ing: the ending turns the change into something that is going on, or into the name of the change itself.

維基詞典把這個字分析成 age 加 -ing（by surface analysis, age + -ing）。-ing 讓「變老」這個動作變成正在進行的狀態，也可以變成這件事的名字，這正好對上形容詞和名詞兩種用法。

Wiktionary entry for aging (kaikki extract, etymology_text: By surface analysis, age + -ing), supplied in this packet

From the picture

用手做出時間的痕跡

痕跡還是同樣那些痕跡，只是這次不是等出來的，是人做出來的——把時間的工作接手過來自己做一遍。

noun · C1

Work done on purpose to make a new object look old — for example staining and marking new wood so it passes as an antique, or wearing down a costume so it suits an older character.

做舊

Also in this word

noun · B2

The process of growing old: the slow changes in the body and the mind that come with the years.

老化；變老的過程

adjective · B2

Growing old, and starting to show it. Used about a person, about a group such as a country's population, and about things like pipes, machines or buildings that are past their best.

逐漸變老的

原始詞典資料6 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

agingnoun/ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɪŋ/

  • 1

    The process of becoming older or more mature.

  • 2

    The deliberate process of making something (such as an antique) appear (or, in science fiction, become) older than it is.

  • 3

    gerontologymedicinesciencesThe accumulation of damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs with the passage of time; the progressing loss of health, mobility, vibrancy and body functionality, resulting in biological death.

  • 4

    Wear; wear and tear.

agingadj/ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɪŋ/

  • 1

    Becoming elderly.

    • The aging artist could no longer steadily hold the brush.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。